A vacuous Democratic Party isn’t news to Americans. A recent poll showed only 37% think the Democratic Party “currently stands for something” while 52% percent say the party is just “against Trump.” In 2016 Donald Trump’s answers were tragically wrong, but they were answers. Given a choice, most Americans would have eagerly picked any answers other than Trump’s but the Democrats obstinately refused to offer any answers of their own. They watched each of Trump’s world-class mortifications and smugly said “Well, this… THIS is the nail in the coffin!” but they offered no alternatives.

In 2016 Americans were screaming for change in the status quo. Trump offered facile solutions for these complex problems but the Democrats meekly insisted the status quo was just fine. Against Trump’s cronyism, deceit, and corruption they ran a candidate famous for all three. To counter “drain the swamp” they picked someone who had lived in the swamp for 50 years. Trump was worse than Clinton in almost every possible way, but “not as bad” is not a motivator. People needed something to vote for, not just against, and the Democrats didn’t give it to them.

The Democrats worked hard not to learn the obvious lessons from 2016 and it seems they’re polishing those non-lessons for 2018. Their latest painful attempt at ‘rebranding’ is “A Better Deal”, a bland and incoherent pastiche of talking points, popular details scraped from larger programs, and vague aspirations without proposals to achieve them. They dropped this muck on the country in July but thankfully no one’s heard about it. Why? Take a look at Chuck Schumer’s pitch for “A Better Deal”, inexplicably shoehorned into an inspirational-looking meme. Feeling inspired? Can you imagine any actual policy being drawn from this tripe? Or check out this video of Nancy Pelosi. She’s was so unshakably committed to the soaring principles of “A Better Deal” that she had to read the drivel from a brochure. Obvious apathy of the Leadership is just one clue that even the Democrats don’t care about this pap. In our hyper-media environment a black-and-white pamphlet isn’t the way to promote anything, but if anyone were actually curious about “A Better Deal“ they’d have to go to a blog post buried on the Senate Democrat’s website where they’d find a grand plan for reconstructing America… on one page. “A Better Deal” doesn’t even have its own website. Not even a Facebook page.

Democrats may be eager for 2018 and 2020 but there’s still the fatal smugness. “Well, now America’s seen Trump in action, and we’ll be there waiting when they bail!” Unfortunately no one who voted for Trump is surprised by him. Whether they voted for his views or in spite of them, everyone knew basically what his views were. Republicans were rightly shamed for not having a healthcare plan after seven years to work on it, and the Democrats will be rightly eviscerated if they can’t find an alternative to Trump after years to work on it themselves. “American Families”, sure, “elites and special interests”, yep, “work for everyone”, blah blah blah. If that’s what the Democratic Leadership thinks will win against Trump then we’ll soon be seeing 2016 all over again.